China's tax burden is still lower than that of most developing
and developed countries despite the rapid growth in its tax
revenue, an analyst has said.
According to a latest report published by the State
Administration of Tax (SAT), China's tax burden, measured by tax
revenue divided by gross domestic product (GDP), stood at 18
percent last year, 0.5 percent higher than 2005.
However, the figure was still three percent lower compared with
that of developing countries or 12 percent lower than
industrialized countries, said Sun Gang, researcher with the
Research Institute for Fiscal Science under the Ministry of
Finance.
Sun attributed the 0.5 percent rise to the growing number of tax
payers.
Excluding customs duties and agricultural tax, China posted a
tax revenue of 3.76 trillion yuan (US$482.5 billion) in 2006, an
increase of 21.9 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, preliminary estimations show its GDP totaled 20.94
trillion yuan last year, up 10.7 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2007)